The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) CFO Sells $368,445.04 in Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total transaction of $368,445.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,615,091.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock opened at $54.78 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $42.10 and a one year high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.49. The company has a market cap of $39.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 52,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,005,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 1st quarter worth $6,928,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 86.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,274,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,840,000 after buying an additional 590,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Kroger by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 185,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,575,000 after purchasing an additional 22,946 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

Kroger Company Profile

The Kroger Co operates as a food and drug retailer in the United States. The company operates combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouses. Its combination food and drug stores offer natural food and organic sections, pharmacies, general merchandise, pet centers, fresh seafood, and organic produce; and multi-department stores provide apparel, home fashion and furnishings, outdoor living, electronics, automotive products, and toys.